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EVIE Joins UK Government-Backed Programme to Advance Level 4 Autonomous Braking
EVIE Autonomous has been selected as a project partner in a major UK Government-backed programme developing the next generation of safety-critical braking technology for fully autonomous vehicles.
The Dynamic Braking for Autonomous Vehicles programme—D-BrAVe—is led by Alcon Advanced Technologies, working alongside the University of Surrey and EVIE Autonomous.
The project aims to create a commercially scalable, fail-operational Brake-by-Wire system incorporating Anti-Lock Braking and provisional Electronic Stability Control. It is being developed specifically for No-User-in-Charge Level 4 autonomous vehicles, where there may be no driver available to take control if a fault occurs.
Safety Without a Human Fallback
For autonomous vehicles to operate without a driver, their control systems must do more than perform reliably during normal operation. They must also detect faults, manage failures and retain sufficient braking capability to bring the vehicle to a controlled and safe stop.
D-BrAVe will address this critical requirement by combining advanced braking hardware, vehicle-control technology and academic research within a complete fail-operational system.
EVIE will contribute its experience in autonomous vehicle integration, electronic vehicle control and the development of vehicle-agnostic autonomy systems.
The programme closely aligns with EVIE’s safety-led approach to autonomy. EVIE separates intelligent autonomous decision-making from safety-critical machine control, creating independent layers of monitoring, validation and intervention.
Steven Lake, Founder and CEO of EVIE Autonomous, said:
“Removing the driver from a vehicle changes the safety requirement completely. There is no longer a person available to take over if something goes wrong, so steering, braking and vehicle control must be designed to manage faults safely and independently.
“D-BrAVe brings together the specialist capabilities needed to address one of the most important challenges facing Level 4 autonomy. We are proud that EVIE has been selected to contribute to this nationally important programme.”
Supporting the Commercial Deployment of Autonomy
The project represents another important step in moving autonomous technology beyond prototypes and into commercially deployable machines.
A scalable, fail-operational braking system could support numerous autonomous applications, including airport vehicles, agricultural machinery, logistics platforms, industrial vehicles, construction equipment and specialist robotic systems.
For EVIE, the programme will also support the continued development of the safety architecture surrounding ARLO—EVIE’s vehicle-agnostic autonomous intelligence platform—and Watchdog, its independent safety and machine-control layer.
D-BrAVe is funded through the UK Government’s CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate competition, delivered in partnership with Zenzic and Innovate UK.